Season To Start April 3rd

MLS announced today that the regular season will start April 3rd and finish November 7th, with the playoffs running from November 19th to MLS Cup on Dec 11th.  This is the latest MLS has started since the mid-2000's and this is obviously a move to delay the start of the season as long as possible in order to play as many games as possible in front of fans.  The hope is by mid/late summer stadiums can have fans and Canadian teams will be able to cross the border.

Because of the late start teams won't start preseason camps until Feb. 22nd.  This also gives the league and the players union a month to come to an agreement on the modification to the CBA the league invoked with its exercising of force majeure clause.  Hopefully that will be enough to get the delayed season started on time.

I'm not sure how much news there will be in the next month for Colorado.  The Rapids don't seem like they're going to be making major moves.  I see rumors that an official deal for Yarbrough is almost done, but other than that it might be a quiet few weeks.

Welcome Philip Mayaka!

With their only exercised draft pick today the Rapids chose Clemson midfielder Philp Mayaka as the 3rd pick of the draft.  Mayaka was considered by many as the clear number 1 pick in the draft, with some saying he was the most obvious number 1 since Cyle Larin or maybe Steve Zakuani.  I'm not sure why Austin and Cincinnati passed on him, but their loss is our gain.  Clemson's coaches called Mayaka the most MLS ready player they've ever had.

Mayaka played more of an attacking mid for the Tigers two seasons ago and last season shifted into more of a defensive midfielder role.  Colorado projects him as a d-mid in MLS.  He'll give us cover for absences of Acosta and Bassett on national team duty this year, not to mention Price's occasional suspensions.  He also appears to be a natural replacement for Bassett whenever we inevitably sell him to Europe.

As an added bonus Philip Mayaka signed a Generation Adidas contract with the league already.  That means he won't count against the senior roster or salary cap, and he's automatically protected in next year's expansion draft.  Plus we don't have to convince him to sign a contract.  It also means he's a lock to make the team.

In order to land Mayaka the Rapids made a deal just as the draft started.  They traded $200K of GAM, with an additional $50K in incentives, and the #6 pick to Houston for the #3 pick.  They had already traded $125K of GAM to Chicago to get the #6 pick.  Its unclear if the Rapids knew Mayaka was going to fall to 3 or if they had targeted somebody like Bartlow but took Mayaka as the best player in the draft when he fell.  $325K is a lot of allocation money to spend on a draft pick.  However when combined with the other moves made in the last week it looks much better.

Later today we traded the 21st pick for $50K in GAM from Austin.  That 21st pick was gotten in the trade for Barrios where we gave up the 15th pick and an international spot.  If you combine that move with the other moves above:

• Rapids give up the #15 pick, an international slot, and $275K of GAM
• Rapids receive Michael Barrios and Philip Mayaka

That's a pretty solid piece of work by Padraig Smith and the Front Office.  We get a top 3, maybe top 1, draftee and a guy with some of the most dangerous touches in the league last year for our first round pick, an international slot we don't currently need, and less than $300K in GAM.

The Rapids passed with their second and third round picks.  Mayaka will be their only draftee this year.

Superdraft Live

Superdraft is just starting and the Rapids made a move.  They traded the #6pick and $200K of GAM to Houston for the #3 pick.  I'm guessing we're going after Bartlow.

Philip Mayaka surprisingly falls to the Rapids at #3 after Periera is taken #1 and Harris is taken #2.  Mayaka was considered the most obvious #1 pick in a while so a great get for the Rapids, even if he doesn't have an obvious starting spot right now in central midfield.  Clemson considers him the most 'MLS-ready' player they've ever had.

The Rapids traded their #21 pick to Austin for $50K of GAM.

The Rapids passed with their second round pick, and will presumably do so with their third round pick.  If something changes I'll post but otherwise I'll get into more detail about Mayaka tonight.

Superdraft Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the annual Superdraft where the Rapids look like they're going to pick up at least one player we can expect to make the 2021 roster.  I say that because they traded $125K in GAM to Chicago last month to move up to the 6th overall pick.  Scuttlebutt is that they have their eyes on a player they recommended for a Generation Adidas contract and 5 such players were signed this year, including 2 this week.  Reportedly one player turned down the offer, hopefully that wasn't the Rapids target.  Colorado also holds the #21 pick in the first round after the trade last week for Barrios as well as their natural 15th picks in the 2nd and 3rd round (the draft was shortened to 3 rounds this year).

Looking at the 5 GA players there's a center back, a right back/center mid (most experts see him as a RB in MLS), two center mids, and a winger.  The biggest need for the Rapids is center back, so Ethan Bartlow would be the best pick, but most mock drafts don't see him getting past 5, some have him a top 2.  As much as I would like to see the Rapids take the Washington player (Go Dawgs!) it seems unlikely.

Taking Bret Halsey as a right back doesn't fill a need given Rosenberry, Kelly, and Seb Anderson so unless we really think he can make it as a center mid that would be surprising.  Center mid Philip Mayaka is expected to be the #1 pick for Austin.  That leaves center mid Daniel Pereira and winger Calvin Harris.  Pereira's downside is that he requires an international slot, which we don't have at the moment.  That can be solved but I'm not sure Colorado spends a pick on him in an area of the field that's a bit bloated at the moment.

My money is on Harris being our target, but we'd take Bartlow if he somehow falls to us.  Our formation is well suited for wingers and Smith has talked a lot about competition and having the next set of players ready to go as the current set of players moves on to (hopefully) bigger things.  As a GA he wouldn't count against the cap and would be automatically protected in the expansion draft so its a low-risk/high payout  move.

If, somehow, all 5 GA's are taken with the first 5 picks which isn't likely I'm not sure what the Rapids will do.  My bet is that they have their eyes on LB Josh Drack out of DU but he's considered the 3rd best LB in the draft and Colorado is probably hoping he'll fall to them with the 21st pick.

As I'm able to tomorrow I'll update the blog with any news (draft day is always a busy trade day for the league) and our picks, with a wrap-up of the day tomorrow night.

Welcome Michael Barrios!

As was rumored in yesterday's post, the Rapids announced a significant trade today, acquiring midfielder/winger Michael Barrios from Dallas in exchange for an international slot for an unspecified length of time.  The teams also swapped first round picks, with Colorado getting Dallas' pick and #21 and Dallas getting Colorado's #15 pick (Colorado also holds the #6 pick from an earlier trade).  Reports are that there are incentives built into the deal if Barrios hits certain benchmarks, presumably more draft picks and/or xAM.

Barrios is 30 years old and played in his native Colombia before being signed by Dallas in 2015.  In 5 seasons he's put up 31 goals and 44 assists, with 15 assists in 2019 and 14 in 2017.  Last year his play appeared to trail off and Dallas has some young talent coming through their system, which explains why they were willing to let him go for a low price.  However a deeper dive into the numbers, as seen here, shows that he's still putting out quality play but Dallas didn't have the talent around him to capitalize.

This is a low risk high reward move by the Rapids.  For the price of an international slot (there's not much value lost in a 6 spot slide in the back half of the first round) we get a guy who could contribute to 10+ goals next season.  If he doesn't, no big deal.  He does come with a price tag though, with a 2019 salary that was $500K.  In 2021 he's on his final option year in his contract, which Dallas exercised next month.  We have to assume he's still around that $500K number.  But its only a one year commitment so again, low risk.

With this move the Rapids now have arguably 9 starting caliber players for the 6 spots in front of the backline.  Acosta, Barrios, Bassett, Benezet, Lewis, Namli, Price, Shiyashiki, and Rubio, plus Galvan and Mezquida as legitimate options off the bench.  That feels a bit top heavy to me.  I wouldn't be shocked to find out we made this move with knowledge that one of those guys won't be with the team come opening day, presumably one of our younger guys may be moved or sold.  Acosta, Bassett, and Lewis seem like obvious choices for that.

Also today @BigBadMLS, who reported the Adi rumor yesterday, reported today that the signing was off after the trade to Barrios.  So who knows if it was ever on, but I think its safe to say its not going to happen.

What's This, A Rumor?

Its been a very quiet offseason so far, with the only real news being Vines, Lewis, and Acosta's callup to the January National Team camp.  Today though the independent Twitter account @BigBadMLS reported that the Rapids are in talks with free-agent striker Fanendo Adi.  Adi was a huge part of Portland's success a few years ago but was traded to the (then) USL FC Cincinnati in 2018 as their first major signing as part of their preparation to move into MLS in 2019.  After the inaugural season in Cinci that didn't go well by anyone's opinion he moved up the interstate to Columbus last season, rejoining his coach from Portland Caleb Porter.  Despite that established relationship Adi was not a top choice in Columbus and had another slow season before being released and becoming a free agent.

In Cincinnati he was making $1.3 million guaranteed, with up to $2 million with added details, as a Designated Player.  After being waived by Cinci he was picked up by Columbus at the same price, with Cinci still picking up most of it.  In those two years he got two years older (now 30) and scored...1 goal in 870 minutes of play.  For comparison purposes in those same two years the Rapids had a player score only 1 goal in less than half that time, Seb Anderson.  And he spent all of last season in the Springs.

Adi obviously has talent and has ended up in situations that just don't work for him the last two years.  But he is now on the wrong side of 30 and at least 2 years removed from being an obvious MLS starter.  If we want to sign him as a backup at sub-max salary for a 2 year deal, fine, go for it.  It fits our MO of finding distressed MLS assets and getting them on the cheap with the hope they'll bounce back in a new situation.  There's no way I see paying him anything more than max salary makes any sense, nor does it match what the team has been building the last couple of years.  An older expensive questionable striker went out with Yannick Boli and Joe Mason.

Aside from that I have heard some talk that we might hear about a significant trade soon.  More on that if/when more details break.  Other than that I leave you with this belated happy holidays image of the newly rehabbed Rocky Mountain Cup.